The present invention relates to a fixing device for fixing a seat to a vehicle floor, and also relates to a seat and to a vehicle including such a fixing device.
More particularly, the invention relates to a fixing device for fixing a seat to a floor of a vehicle, the seat including a seat proper which extends between a front end and a rear end, and the fixing device comprising:
a base serving to support the seat proper; and
a rear coupling and a front coupling that are secured to the base, the front coupling comprising an anchoring fork having an open recess serving to cooperate with a horizontal rod secured to the floor to allow the seat to be pivoted between an in-use position in which the rear coupling co-operates with fixing means on the floor to hold the seat proper substantially horizontal, and a tilted-forwards position in which the rear coupling no longer co-operates with the fixing means on the floor so as to enable the seat proper to be inclined relative to the horizontal.
Such fixing devices are known in particular from Patent Application FR 2 780 351. With that type of fixing device, holding the seat proper of the seat stationary in its tilted-forwards position requires the presence of a separate hook mounted on the anchoring fork, said hook being mounted to move relative to the fork by means of a spring, and it being necessary for the hook to have a shape suitable for enabling it to be retracted from or hooked onto a second rod mounted parallel to the first pivot rod. It is therefore quite difficult to put the fixing device in place on the floor of the vehicle and to anchor it to said floor. Moreover, when the spring does not provide suitable resilient return, the seat is not guaranteed to be locked in its tilted-forwards position, and that can cause the seat to pivot accidentally from its tilted-forwards position towards its horizontal position.
A particular object of the present invention is to mitigate those drawbacks by providing a fixing device for fixing a seat to a vehicle floor, which fixing device is easy to put in place on said floor of the vehicle while also guaranteeing excellent locking of the seat proper of the seat in its tilted-forwards position in which the seat proper is inclined to some extent relative to the horizontal, i.e. relative to the floor of the vehicle.
To this end, in the invention, in a fixing device of the type in question, the anchoring fork is provided with a finger which projects substantially forwards when the seat is in the in-use position, and the device further comprises an elastically deformable blade that is secured to the floor and that is provided with a through opening, and the elastically deformable blade is disposed in register with the finger on the anchoring fork so as to make it possible firstly for the finger to push away said elastically deformable blade by deforming it, while the seat proper is pivoting from its in-use position to its tilted-forwards position, and secondly, when the seat proper is in its tilted-forwards position, for the finger to engage in the opening of the blade by said blade returning resiliently, so as to lock the seat proper to prevent it from pivoting from its tilted-forwards position to its in-use position.
By means of these provisions, the seat is easy to put in place on the floor and is easy to remove from the vehicle, and the front coupling of the fixing device makes it possible to lock the seat proper merely by the presence of the elastically deformable blade to prevent said seat proper from pivoting towards its in-use position when it is disposed in its tilted-forwards position.
In preferred embodiments of the invention, it is optionally possible, in addition, to use any of the following provisions:
the through opening in the elastically deformable blade has a shape that is complementary to the shape of the finger on the anchoring fork;
the finger has a top face which defines a bottom portion of the open recess;
the finger has a bottom face which, when the seat proper is in the tilted-forwards position, serves to come into abutment against an abutment secured to the floor;
the abutment secured to the floor is in the form of an abutment fork provided with a notch defined by two substantially vertical side prongs separated by a substantially horizontal middle portion, and the bottom face of the finger is provided with a projecting element serving to come to be received in the notch in the abutment fork and facing the middle portion of said notch, when the seat proper is in the tilted-forwards position, so as to prevent the finger from being moved substantially vertically in the opening in the elastically deformable blade;
the elastically deformable blade and the abutment secured to the floor are made in a single piece; and
the base comprises at least one first rail on which the front coupling and the rear coupling are mounted, and a second rail which is mounted to slide on the first rail and which serves to be fixed to the seat proper of the seat to enable the seat proper to be moved forwards and backwards.
In addition, the invention also provides a vehicle seat including a seat proper which is mounted on the floor of the vehicle by means of at least one fixing device as defined above.
The invention also provides a motor vehicle including at least one seat as defined above, the vehicle including a transverse horizontal rod that is secured to the floor and a setback in which the elastically deformable blade is disposed at least in part.